Well, most of the time defense is paid to do nothing but sit on their butts..
Tp4 has observed that the soldier stuff is basically alot of bad command organization and waiting around doing nothing.
Hardly.
Here's a normal day working F-16's (Chair Force!), keep in mind, F-16's are considered one of the easiest fighters to maintain and needs some of the lowest amount of repairs per flight hour.
Day shift (8 hours)
come in, get assigned to jet, spend ~2 hours prepping for flight,
spend an hour launching plane
grab a quick bite to eat (about 40 minutes, if the plane doesn't have a problem and come back)
catch plane spend 1-3 hours inspecting plane
spend an hour launching plane
Hand jet over to night shift, clean up, pack up tools/equipment
Night shift (min. 10 hours, often 11-12)
come in, get assigned to jet, do turnover, setup equipment/prepare to catch jet
catch jet, spend 3-6 hours inspecting jet.
grab a quick bite to eat (about 40 minutes, if the plane doesn't have a problem and come back)
spend the next 4-6 hours repairing broken aircraft so they can fly the next morning.
Clean up, pack up tools and equipment.
And that's just to start.
If it snows, expect an extra 2-3 hours de-icing planes
During summer you may have to come in over one weekend to open/close canopies (morning/night) so they don't overheat.
There is also the occasional weekend flights you have to man or you may have to help with airshow prep
There's also hangar cleanup, jets to lube and wash, paperwork, maintain fitness levels and more.
If deployed to the gulf it's 12 hour shifts 6 days a week, possibly while living in a tent.
During a training exercise, you work 12 hour shifts, around the clock often in full chem gear doing all the above, plus a 1 hour shift turnover, basically 14 hour days. Heat be damned.
If doing Red Flag in Las Vegas, day shift may be on 12 hour shifts and nights may end up doing 14-16 hour shifts to keep them flying.
Oh, and you may be away from home up to 250 days a year and every 3rd year you're going to spend an entire year in Korea (if married you cannot bring spouse).
Care to tell me when you expect us to do farming?Don't forget that if these people screw up, someone dies, possibly many if it comes down in a populated area.